Tag Archives: cautionary tale

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

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“I think it was basically like, a boy would be outside playing, and he would always, you know, yell that a wolf was coming, or a wolf had done something bad, or he would do something bad and blame it on the wolf that was there. So he kept crying that there was a wolf, or yelling out that there was a wolf, and then people started- they’d always come running and there was no wolf, and he [the boy] thought that was really funny. And then eventually the wolf DID come, and when he cried that there was a wolf, nobody came to pay attention to him because he had lied so many times, and then the wolf ate him.”

Context 

J, my mother, currently lives in Seattle, Washington in the United States, but grew up in various towns in Ontario, Canada. She is the oldest of three siblings, and first heard this tale from her father when she was very young. When asked about the context in which she first heard the story, J provided the following: 

“I’m having a little bit of difficulty remembering the exact context, but Grandpa always was a big, like, moralistic storyteller, so he would use examples. So often when [her brother’s name] and I would fight, um, we would try to accuse each other of all kinds of outlandish crazy things. And, you know, sometimes I, as the older sibling, would try to work things to my advantage. And Grandpa would get frustrated with us because he knew that we were exaggerating or blaming each other for things. So he would basically talk to us about the story of the boy who cried wolf, because he was trying to enforce in us the idea that if we exaggerated or said things that weren’t true, that, you know, when something actually did happen we wouldn’t be believed.”

Analysis

As J stated in her own interpretation of this story, The Boy Who Cried Wolf fits closely within the common notion of a tale: a story with a moral value or lesson that is told primarily to children. In this instance, the tale’s moral is cautionary, showing a young boy who transgresses numerous social boundaries and is punished (eaten by the wolf) as a result. In a slightly simplified application of Levi-Strauss’s paradigmatic theory of structuralism, this tale features a binary opposites pair of honesty and dishonesty that correlate to safety/community and danger/isolation respectively. When considering J’s observations about truth-telling, this tale ties into the trust involved in sharing knowledge within a group; the boy’s lies not only made him an unreliable source of information, but threatened the integrity of the information passed around the group as a whole, and as a result, the boy was cast out through a refusal to believe his cries for help. J’s statement that the boy found lying funny also suggests that finding humor in serious situations or not taking things seriously is frowned upon in her family and society.

Mikey Life Cereal Urban Legend

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“So, in the 70s and 80s, one of the more popular television commercials I remember was for Life Cereal. And there was a little kid in it, and basically it was like he hated everything, and then they gave him this bowl of Life Cereal and he started to eat it and it was like ‘Mikey won’t like it, he like- he hates everything!’ And then it’s like ‘Oh Mikey! He likes it!’

…I don’t know how this started, but there was some urban legend that started to go around that Mikey had died. And he died because he ate Pop Rocks and then drank a can of Coca Cola. And apparently either exploded his insides or something like that and he had died.”

Context

J, my mother, currently lives in Seattle, Washington in the United States, but grew up in various towns in Ontario, Canada. She recalls that she first heard this legend from her friends on the playground when she was relatively young. J gave the additional context that this Life Cereal commercial would air often during Saturday morning cartoons, which meant that “all the kids knew who Mikey was.” As a result of the legend, she and the other kids on the playground would dare each other to eat Pop Rocks and drink Coca Cola, to objections of “‘No, Mikey died from that!’” She concluded telling me the legend with the following:

“I do believe it was eventually dispelled, I don’t think Mikey was dead? Um, [laughs] but actually to this day I don’t even really know! All I know is that drinking Coke and eating Pop Rocks is apparently really bad for you, can kill you.” 

Analysis

J’s recollections indicate that this urban legend was primarily a piece of children’s folklore. Drawing from Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: an Introduction chapter author Jay Mechling, this legend seems to be an example of children experimenting with disorder and parody. By taking a benign commercial featuring a child eating cereal and twisting it into a gruesome urban legend, my mother and her peers were able to discuss the concept of death and dangerous/unhealthy foods in a way that exaggerates, mocks, and inverts adult ways of perceiving these topics. That this legend also sparked a form of play (daring each other to eat Pop Rocks and drink Coca Cola) further allowed them to explore a sense of danger in the safe proximity of adults. This legend could also be another example of how Mechling discussed commercial foods being a particular target for ‘antithetical’ children’s folklore as a representation of underlying fears about bodily safety and changes.

Bumper Skiing Urban Legend

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“When we were little up in Canada, when it would snow, which seemed like a lot, and the snow would get packed down on the streets in our neighborhood, me and my friend would put on our ski clothes…and we would hide in the bushes near a stop sign. Then, when a car would stop at the stop sign, we would sneak in behind the car, grab the bumper, squat down so our feet were on the ground, and when the car would start to go we’d basically be skiing behind the car. And one time, when I was little, I was probably eleven or twelve, someone told me the story of the kid who was bumper skiing one time and got his finger stuck in the bumper, and the car pulled his finger right off!”

Context

 M grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but currently lives in Seattle, Washington, The United States of America. He called the activity from which this urban legend stemmed “bumper skiing,” which, from his description, seemed to be a regular and popular activity when the weather conditions were right. The ‘someone’ he mentioned telling him the story was one of his friends; he also did not know the specific identity of the boy who lost his finger in the legend. When asked if this legend influenced him or his attitudes and behaviors towards bumper skiing at all, M said: “Well, I was a little more careful where I put my hand!”

Analysis

To me, this urban legend seems to serve two main purposes. On the one hand, it seems like a way to acknowledge and even emphasize the dangerous play taking place and create a greater sense of risk. That the boy in the story is unnamed creates a sense that it could happen to anyone. It also perhaps allows for a way to externalize and discuss personal fears and anxieties around the practice more indirectly. However, this legend is also clearly a cautionary tale about the harm that may be caused by improperly bumper skiing. M’s telling of the context surrounding bumper skiing indicated that it was a somewhat secretive form of play with little to no adult supervision. For M personally, the legend had a tangible effect on how he partook in bumper skiing, making him more conscientious of his own safety. The spread of this legend could create a way for children to check in on and enforce each other’s safety by drawing on a general sense of folk authority and knowledge.

La Llorona – Tale/Legend

Text: La Llorona – Tale/ Legend

Context: The informant, JR, is of Mexican descent and shares his relation with the cautionary tale of “La Llorona” and how they heard and interpreted the tale.

Interview: The first tale I can remember learning about is the folklore tale/ Legend of La Llorona. La Llorona is a Mexican folklore tale/ Legend that many parents tell their children about and can be compared to bigfoot spoken about here in the United States. Growing up in a Hispanic household me and my siblings were told stories about La Llorona and learned about the folklore. The tale goes something like a woman named Maria who lived in Mexico drowned her children after learning of her husband’s infidelity and soon after drowned herself because of the guilt of drowning her children. It’s said that in Mexico she roams around at night yelling “mis hijos” (my sons) searching for her children. This story is told to children to fearmonger them into not staying out late at night because if they do La Llorona would come to kidnap them. Due to the story being told over and over, there are now many different versions of it but to me, the story isn’t what matters but rather the intent behind telling it to your children. While I don’t remember too well why my parents decided to tell us the story I can only guess that it was to keep us from going out at night, which might have worked since it took me a long time to become accustomed to the nighttime outside. The way I see it it’s just another popular folklore that has stuck around for a long time due to many generations still speaking about that has become immortalized through film and other media.

Analysis: From the interview, I can tell that despite the informant, JR, claiming they have a blurry memory of cautionary tale/ legend, they ultimately were affected by the tale/legend growing up as it impacted their ability to stay outside during the night time due to the fear instilled from the story. As for the significance, other than being scared of being outside in the dark, I can tell that the story of La Llorona also ties in with cultural fears and supernatural beliefs from their cultural descent. Because the tale/legend is told to many children of Hispanic descent, the story has likely been passed down from generation to generation, supporting the idea that it is a reminder of the thin veil between the living and the dead and the idea of guilt, grief, and the pain of losing loved ones in Latin American cultures. The interview connects deeply with Hispanic culture and the ideas of obeying elders and keeping cultural tales/ legends alive by passing them down.

Baba Yaga as the Bogeyman

Context: The informant is a 22 year old USC student and the daughter of two Bulgarian immigrants. She told me that when she visited her grandparents, they would often tell her stories about Baba Yaga.

In C’s words: “[A]s a kid, my grandmother would bring up the story of Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is this old witch who lives in a house deep in the forest. She lurks there, skulking the countryside, looking for naughty children to abduct. The only visible sign of her witchcraft is how her house moves around on its own two skinny chicken feet”

Analysis: C told me afterwards that her grandmother told her these stories in order to scare her into behaving, with Baba Yaga functioning much in the same way the Bogeyman would. Here, Baba Yaga is treated as a legend, with C’s grandmother purposefully attempting to make it seem as if being kidnapped by her is a genuine possibility; this is a common tactic to get children to behave.

Interestingly, this version of the story doesn’t emphasize that Baba Yaga is terribly ugly or scary in any way physically — the only way to tell that she’s a witch is to see her cottage, at which point it would be too late for a potential victim. This makes it easier for Baba Yaga’s story to function as a legend, as she could essentially be anyone around you, making it easier to think that she’s real. It seems that because there’s no popular hero/villain story with Baba Yaga’s defeat in it, it’s almost easier to transition her from a fairy-tale creature to what could be considered a legend. In comparison to, say, the Big Bad Wolf, who also seems to function as a manifestation of the consequences of one’s behavior, Baba Yaga is much more believable as a real and present fear because she isn’t clearly associated with a narrative in which she is killed. By this, I mean that saying that the Big Bad Wolf might come after you doesn’t work as well partially because the most popular version of Red Riding Hood today ends with his death.

Part of the associated fear seems almost as if it’s due to an inversion of the grandmother stereotype/figure/character; rather than being maternal, Baba Yaga steals children. As mothers or grandmothers would typically be the ones telling these stories, it would only further that feeling of discomfort due to some sort of transgression upon the traditional concept of an older maternal figure.